French musicians sing Stamford's praises

By Kate King, Special Correspondent

Published 9:38 pm, Monday, August 31, 2009

STAMFORD -- Alexandre Chevallier wasn't that impressed with New York, which he saw for the first time this weekend. The city that never sleeps was too loud and crowded, he said. The young Parisian did, however, love Stamford.

"Stamford is very, very good," said Chevallier, 13. "There are lots of big houses and swimming pools. It's very quiet and very green."

Chevallier, a singer, is one of 120 French musicians who visited Stamford this weekend as part of a three-week tour of the East Coast. The students are members of the Young Choir of the Ile de France, the Children's Choir of the Il de France and the Young Symphonic Orchestra Maurice-Ravel based in Levallois, France. The group takes an international trip each summer, with this being its 19th trip to the United States and second stay in Stamford, said the program's founder and director Francis Bardot.

"We really like to come here," Bardot said.

While many of the students were seeing the United States for the first time this month, the trip has been a homecoming of sorts for Eva Hildebrand. Hildebrand, 11, lives in Paris, but was born in the United States and comes back often to visit her family in Cincinnati and Boston. She lived in Stamford for one month eight years ago, and while she was only 3 at the time, she said she remembers the city well.

"We came to Stamford the day after the twin towers fell," Hildebrand said. "It was hard to forget."

The musicians' stay in Stamford culminated with a concert at St. John's Episcopal Church Sunday afternoon. Hildebrand said she enjoys singing classical music more than any other genre.

"I like it because we sing pretty songs," she said. "We don't sing rap or rock. What we sing is prettier."

Shippan resident Valerie Vincent was in charge of finding local families to host the 120 musicians during their five-day stay in Stamford.

Vincent, who moved to the United States from Paris in 1990 and to Stamford in 1998, said the city's families were more than willing to take in French students.

"The hospitality is just amazing," Vincent said. "The generosity of people blew me away. It's really amazing."

Vincent, who has six children of her own and another one due in September, hosted eight students, ages 14 to 26, at her house.

"I do it for the fact that this choir and orchestra is just so beautiful and they deserve to be helped," she said. "But I think the community benefits from it too."

Paul and Carol Quartararo hosted two violists, Eve, 21, and Pauline, 19, at their home in Shippan. The language barrier was the most interesting part of the experience, they said.

While one of Quartararo's daughters speaks a few words of French, the conversation was extremely limited.

Neither of the musicians spoke English.

"Even breakfast was interesting," said Paul Quartararo, who said he would hold up cartons of orange juice and cranberry juice and ask his guests to point to the one they wanted.

Alison Chaltas, a member of St. John's, hosted several musicians at her home last weekend. She said she was happy to see the group perform in her church. "Our sanctuary is perfect," she said. "It's big and historic and it has great acoustics."

St. John's music director, Sean Jackson, said he hopes the church can host similar musical events in the future.

"This is something we're aiming to do more of at St. John's," said Jackson, who accompanied the orchestra on the church's organ during Sunday's concert.